CABO STRIPERS TAKE A THREE-DAY
HOLIDAY IN THE MIDDLE OF THE WEEK

Feb. 28-March 6, 2005, George Landrum, Fly Hooker Sportfishing, Cabo San Lucas fishing, Baja California Sur, Mexico:

Cabo San Lucas fishing waters actually changed quite a bit this week as far as sea surface temperatures were concerned. On the Pacific side of Cabo San Lucas we had cool water close to shore, and the temperature there was mostly in the 67-68 degree range. Once you got out to 15 miles the surface temperature picked up to 70 degrees, but the change was over a few miles distance and there was no really defined break.

Cabo San Lucas has been overcast almost all week long. Our nighttime lows have been in the high 50s and the day time highs in the high 70s.

Fishing conditions off Cabo San Lucas were about what we experienced last week with winds from the northwest causing a swell that was mostly in the 3-5 foot range. On the Sea of Cortez we had surface conditions that were much better with some swell from the Pacific reaching around the Cape but no wind really affecting it.

There were a few Striped Marlin caught at the beginning of the week and they started biting again at the end of the week, but the three days during the middle of the week were like a holiday for the billfish! I have no idea what was going on, but even if you saw the Marlin on the surface getting them to eat was a case of "mission impossible" for almost everyone. Even the high liner boats were lucky to get a Striper at Cabo San Lucas this week, and of course that made no one happy. As the week's fishing came to a close the Marlin were appearing close to shore and tossing a live bait to five fish would result in an average of one getting a mouth around the bait. Most of the striper fishing action that took place happened within five miles of the beach on the Pacific side and live bait was the key.

There was not a lot of change on Yellowfin Tuna fishing from last week with the exception that they were getting a little bit closer to Cabo San Lucas every day. At the end of the week you still had to travel a while, and for most Cabo San Lucas fishing boats getting out 25 miles on the Pacific side with the swell out there made for almost a two hour trip. The fish were not large, mostly in the 10-15 pound range, but fish in the 30-40 pound class were common enough that if you got into them everyone was happy. Of course the fish were associated with the Dolphin and that was the clue to getting Tuna in the boat, be one of the first five boats to the Dolphin and you had a chance. I did talk with a number of Cabo San Lucas anglers whose boats were flying white flags and found that there are a pretty large number of captains who are flying white flags for Bonita and Skipjack.

There were scattered Dorado fairly close to the beach on both the Pacific and the Sea of Cortez. The fish have not been big with the average around 10 pounds, but slow trolling live bait in 100 feet of water ensures a catch. For most of the anglers that is better than coming in skunked.

In Cabo San Lucas inshore fishing, the sierra action picked back up this week and we are sure happy that it did. If you were fortunate enough to fish with a captain that knew what was happening there were lots of fish available, and they were decent size with fish ranging from 4 to 10 pounds. Not only Sierra, but the Pargo bite has remained fair and there were decent Grouper and Amberjack being found as well. Most of the bottom fish were being found on the Cortez side of Cabo San Lucas while the Sierra and Yellowtail, yes, Yellowtail, action was on the Pacific. Yellowtail were not plentiful but there were fish found to 15 pounds by anglers dropping live bait around 60 feet deep off of the rocky points on the Pacific side, or working iron in glow colors in the same areas.

The bait is mackerel, mackerel, mackerel, and at the normal $2 per bait. Sometime soon I hope there will be some sardinas showing up!